Anonymity of EC petitioners worrying – Jantuah

It is a concern that some staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) who have petitioned the President to probe chairperson Charlotte Osei have not disclosed their identities, Kwame Jantuah, a member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Vice Chair of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), has said.

According to him, the non-disclosure of the names of the petitioners fuels the perception that there are persons, other than those workers who have issues to settle with the EC boss, behind it, a situation that can create problems for the country.

His remarks follow the filing of a petition by some unnamed EC staff with President Nana Akufo-Addo requesting the removal of Mrs Osei for allegedly terminating a contract with STL and unilaterally renegotiating a contract with a vendor of the EC for $21,999,592 without the knowledge of her deputies or other commissioners.

The petition, signed by the lawyer for the staff, Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, said Mrs Osei’s cancellation of a contract between the EC and Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) – a company contracted to supply and manage Biometric Voter Registration machines (BVRs) and the Biometric Voter Devices (BVDs) – coupled with her ordering of the payment of $76,000 to IT firm Dream Oval, were fraudulent.

Mrs Osei has since reacted to the allegations, describing them as “frivolous”, “bogus” and as “lies”.

But commenting on this matter on TV3’s New Day programme on Saturday July 22, Mr Jantuah said: “What really worries me is the anonymity of the petitioners. What baffles me is why their lawyer is silent on the petitioners.

“What are we protecting here? What are we hiding here that the names have to be silent? I don’t understand that. That now makes people feel there is some underhand business going on.”